6-year-old boy suffers traumatic injuries after being bitten by neighbor's dog: 'It was super hard'

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Six-year-old Christian Andres can't do much these days. The first grader uses a wheelchair after being severely injured by a neighbor's dog.

"He bit me on my leg and in the front (of my face) and right here," the little boy said. "They told me I can't walk on the leg because the bone will get smaller."

On the morning of Feb. 11, Christian and his cousin were playing outside in his front yard. That's when a neighbor's dog apparently broke off his leash and ran toward the young boy's house, and Christian was bitten multiple times.

"I really froze up in shock," his step-dad Jonathan Sazon said about the moment he heard the screams. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to call."

Little Christian would end up spending three weeks in the hospital.

"It was super hard," he said. "I had to go through a lot of surgeries. Had to keep changing my IV, and that was hard."

The dog in question is a young pit bull named Polo, owned by Nate Roberts, a neighbor who lives half a block from the Andres family.

"He's not a vicious dog," Roberts, who told ABC13 about the incident and showed us his dog Polo, said.

When Eyewitness News asked if his dog bit the boy, Roberts replied, "Yes. Yes, it was my dog, and here's the leash. They told us to put the dog in quarantine for 10 days."

Roberts says that morning, Polo broke his leash while he was being walked to the backyard. Then, he ran toward Christian's home. Roberts says Polo grew excited in front of the house because the family had several French bulldogs in the garage.

"(Polo) was distracted by the dogs in the kennels," Roberts said. "He heard them barking. He ran to the garage to try to advance to the dogs in the kennel. He didn't intentionally just attack nobody because he grew up right here in this garage."

In accordance with Harris County policy, Polo was placed in a 10-day quarantine. After that period, he was returned to Roberts. This week, the Andres family filed paperwork in Justice of the Peace Court. They are seeking to have Polo declared a dangerous dog and force him to be moved away from the neighborhood.

"So it doesn't come to bite my other leg," Christian said.

The Andres family is now waiting for a hearing date. However, they are not bitter. They are just glad that their little boy is still alive.

"I'm grateful and thankful for God's work because it could have been, he could have been worse," Sazon said. "I'm happy he's here."

For now, Polo remains at his family's garage.

Doctors say Christian's recovery could take up to two years.

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